GET REEL: Fabulous femme fatales of film

Sunday

Apr 9, 2017 at 9:09 AMApr 9, 2017 at 9:47 AM

The femme fatale – French for “fatal woman” – has been undermining men for as long as, well, there have been men and women.

One could make an argument that Eve, the first woman in the Bible, didn’t do Adam any favors by persuading him to chow down on that McIntosh. Of course, it didn’t do her much good either. A stronger biblical case can be made for Salome, the seductive dancer who made sure John the Baptist didn’t have to worry about haircuts anymore.

In movies, the femme fatale has been ensnaring the male species for as long as, well, there have been movies. Going back to the silent film era, Theda Bara exuded enough seductive sex appeal to earn the nickname The Vamp. That would be short for Vampire.

The prototypical femme fatale shows no qualms of using her beauty and feminine wiles to lure men into situations that range from painfully compromising to downright deadly. Women using sex as a corruptive force? Say it ain’t so.

To get what she wants, the femme fatale may also resort to dabbling with alternative facts. Blackmail is in her bag of nefarious tricks, too.

While most femmes fatales show little interest in motherhood, we should note that Sil (Natasha Henstridge), a truly fatal femme in “Species”(1995), is all about wanting to produce offspring. She just doesn’t go about procreation in a very motherly way. For example, she kisses one man with such ferocity that her tongue goes through his head. I hate when that happens.

These are some bad, bad ladies. Or in the case of Jessica Rabbit in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988), she’s just drawn that way. Appropriately enough, Jessica is voiced by Kathleen Turner, whose smoldering Matty Walker makes Ned Racine’s life a living hell in “Body Heat” (1981). Ned (William Hurt) finds out – too late, unfortunately - that the high school nickname of this femme fatale was The Vamp.

Walker would have felt right at home in 1940s film noir where the femme fatale really hit her destructive stride. Rita Hayworth, for example, proves to be particularly adept of turning men into mush in “The Lady from Shanghai” (1947) and “Gilda” (1946). The Hall of Fame of Femmes Fatales has to include Barbara Stanwyck, whose Phyllis Dietrichson conspires with Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) to murder her husband to collect insurance money in “Double Indemnity” (1944). These two lowlifes deserve each other. You know the world is out of whack when Edward G. Robinson plays the good guy.

Some femmes fatales kill you with kindness, make that alleged kindness. Spoiler alert for people who haven’t seen “The Maltese Falcon” (1941). Mary Astor’s character is not to be trifled as Sam Spade’s partner discovers the hard way. She woos Sam (Humphrey Bogart), but he eventually sees through her. “I won’t play the sap for you!” he barks. Some femmes fatales do get caught in their net of deceit.

And others just get killed. Take Alex Forrest (Glenn Close). Please. In “Fatal Attraction” (1987), she refuses to be ignored after Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) ends their affair. Anyone who boils a bunny deserves the wrath of PETA.

Douglas apparently has a thing for femmes fatales as he confronts another one in “Basic Instinct” (1992). Here, he plays Nick Curran, a police detective who becomes enamored with Catherine Trammel (Sharon Stone), despite that the fact that she’s the principal suspect in the murder he’s investigating. You don’t want to cross Catherine, especially when she’s uncrossing, if you know what I mean. See the film and you will. The important lesson to learn here is not to go to bed with a woman who has a fondness for ice picks.

In addition to Sil, femmes fatales who display little subtlety when dispatching their prey include The Bride (Uma Thurman) in the “Kill Bill” films from 2003 and 2004, restively, and Nikita (Anne Parillaud in “La Femme Nikita” (1990). The Bride may hold the body count record for femmes fatales. She clearly didn’t appreciate being shot and put in a coma.

My favorite femme fatale, though, is Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) in “The Last Seduction” (1994). You know Bridget is bad news from the opening scene when she brutally belittles everyone in her path as a telemarketing manager. Her sleazy husband Clay (Bill Pullman) has just netted $700,000 in a drug deal but makes the tragic mistake of slapping Bridget. He apologizes, but it’s too late. She leaves him, taking the money with her. She ends up in a small town where she meets at a bar Mike Swale (Peter Berg), who is licking his wounds from a failed marriage.

To impress Bridget, Mike brags that he’s hung like a horse only to have Bridget turn the tables on him by demanding to see the goods on the spot. She’s not exactly the shy, retiring type. Instead, she’s the foul-mouthed, treacherous type. How nasty is Bridget? She extinguishes a cigarette in a pie baked by Mike’s grandmother.

When Clay tries to track her down, Bridget proves to be very resourceful, using Mike as the patsy du jour. She spins her web of duplicity with such sinister skill that it would make a black widow envious. Few femmes fatales go to the lengths she goes through to achieve her goal.

Fiorentino should have been nominated for an Academy Award for her performance, but she was disqualified because the film was first shown on HBO before it was released in theaters. If the academy had done that to Bridget Gregory, each member would have certainly met a disastrous fate. Worse than death, they would have been forced to watch “Gigli” on a loop.

Last month’s tester: This actress, who died of cancer at the age of 50, received a Golden Globe nomination in the 1960s, appeared in an Oscar-winning film in the 1970s and played her final film role in the 1980s. Clue: The 1980s film was a sequel.

Answer: Janet Margolin. The 1980s film was "Ghostbusters II."

Ken Butler of Franklin was the first reader to answer the question correctly. Jane Kettendorf of Dedham also answered the question correctly. Congratulations to both!

This month’s tester: In his only two acting credits, he had cameo roles on a TV show and in a movie. Clue: The cast of the movie included a future Oscar winner and actors who were both twice nominated for Oscars.

The first reader to answer the question correctly will receive a prize.

Trivia enthusiasts can call me at 508-626-4409 or email me at rtremblay@wickedlocal.com. Make sure you leave your name, address and phone number on my message machine or email so I can contact you if you answered the question correctly. The address is needed so winners can be mailed their prize. Callers should spell out their names slowly and clearly so their names will be spelled correctly in the column.